This and that!

Happy Friday! 

I have been in a rut of only posting cards that I have made for design team commitments, so this morning I have a couple of cards that I made recently for personal reasons! 

This first card was made for my niece's high school graduation.  I wanted to use her school colors so I pulled a couple of sheets with the two shades of blue from Jillibean Soup's Spotted Owl Soup and October Afternoon's Seaside. 

The background journaling note paper is from Making Memories' Noteworthy line and the stamps are from Cornish Heritage Farms' U R A Hoot set.

The owl was colored using Copic markers.  The sentiment and 'Graduate' on the cap were both heat embossed.

The second card is a thank you card I made for a recent gift from my mom, who has collected strawberry themed things for as long as I can remember. 

The paper is from Papertrey Ink's Fruitti Tutti pad and the stamps are from the Fruit Fusion - Berry set.  I added some Salmon Viva Decor Pearl Pen dots around the scalloped mat and a little faux stitching around both stamped panels using a pink Spica marker. 

On the sentiment panel I added a strawberry button I had in my stash for just such an occasion!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a wonderful weekend!

RI SOTW - Celebrate Spring!

This week's Stamp of the Week from Repeat Impressions is Celebrate Spring (3908-I) - such a cheerful image!  I colored directly on the stamp with markers and then stamped the image.  I added some Flower Soft to the flowers and used a Viva Decor Peach Pearl Paint Pen to create the dots around the border of the focal image.

The patterned paper for my background is from Making Memories' Flower Patch collection and the green polka dot paper is from Bo Bunny's Double Dot collection.  Pretty simple, but happy, card to celebrate Spring now that it's FINALLY here! 

Please hop on over to The House That Stamps Built to check out the rest of the design team's Celebrate Spring cards!


Thanks for stopping by!

RI SOTW - Bunny Hop!

This week's Stamp of the Week from Repeat Impressions is this sweet Bunny Hop (4215-I) image. Perfect for Easter, especially when paired with the fun Hoppy Easter (1303-E) sentiment!  To make the grass, I inked up just the grass portion of the Wild Violets (1706-I) image, although Wendy has a great grass border (1507-J) stamp that I need to get my hands on!  I added some additional grass blades using a green Copic marker and the sky was airbrushed using two different blue Copic markers.

I matched the image with some adorable Flower Patch paper from Making Memories.  The layout for my card is from this week's Crazy 4 Challenges C4C77 sketch challenge, hosted by my buddy Silke Ledlow.

Please head over to The House That Stamps Built to check out the cards the rest of the design team has made using Bunny Hop and to find out how you can order it for half price this week only! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great week and be sure to come back on Wednesday for another Repeat Impressions sketch challenge!

It Had to be Mew

This is the Valentine's Day card I made for Tim - I'm posting it early because I made it for this week's Mojo Monday 177 sketch challenge, which closes tonight!  This Cat's Pajamas set was perfect since we love cats and puns!


The patterned papers are from Scenic Route and the glittery paper for the heart that Sprinkle is holding is from Making Memories.  The overlapping hearts are chipboard that I painted with acrylic paint and then outlined with Sargent's Gold Liquid Metal.  Sprinkle's collar was screaming for a little bling, so I added three clear rhinestones.

For the inside, I stamped the sentiment and cut the panel out using the same Nestabilities die that I used on the front.  Both panels were airbrushed using Copic markers.  That's about it!  Hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Outlines - Squares

Good Monday morning! Hope you had a nice weekend! I made 5 cards, so it was a good weekend for me!

Who's ready for Spring??  I am, as you can tell from this card!  This week's Outlines' design team challenge is squares. For my card, I used the Flower Square Large (E-522) for my focal image. I also used the Script Thank You (B-1054) image, cut using a square Nestabilites die, and the Flower Strip (E-553) image for the border on the right edge.

Here is a closeup of the main image to show the layers.  I stamped the image four times and used one for the base layer, then I cut out the inner square with the flower image and inner border for the second layer.  The third layer is just the center square with the flowers and the fourth layer is the flowers and leaves.  All the layers are popped up on foam tape.

I added some Swarovski Crystals and Gold Viva Decor Pearl Paint Pen to the outer border of the image and I added Swarovski Crystals to the centers of the flowers and painted all the leaves with Smooch Top Coat.   If you click on this final image to see a larger version, you can see all the shine!  All of the flowers were colored using Copic markers.  The background patterned paper is from Making Memories Flower Patch collection.  My card measures 5.5" square.

Please be sure to check out the 'square' cards the rest of the design team made:

Bev Gerard - Savor the Journey (Bev is feeling a little under the weather this week and doesn't have a card, but please stop by and give her a little 'feel better' cheer!)

Jeanne Streiff - Inky Paws

Jenny Gropp - One Krafty Kat

Lisa Silver - Silver Stamping

Sandy Hulsart - Creative Moments with Sandy

Vicki Garrett - Summerthyme Studio

Thanks for stopping by!

Outlines - Love!

Good morning!  It's Monday, which means it's time for an Outlines card!  This week's theme is Valentine's Day and we are showcasing Viva Decor Pearl Paint Pens.  My card uses the Sparkle Love (H-911) image.  I colored it using Copic markers for the red and green portions and Gold Liquid Metallic paint. 

For all of the circle accents, I used the Viva Decor Pearl Paint Pens in Red and Gold.  These pens are really fun to work with - they create a wonderful dimensional dot accent. It's easy to control the size of the dot with the precision point on the pen.

The patterned paper is Making Memories Glitter Love Notes and the ribbon is white satin.  The background  of the main panel was airbrushed with a Copic marker. 

Please be sure to check out the rest of the design team's Valentine's Day creations using Viva Decor Pearl Paint Pens:

Bev Gerard - Savor the Journey

Jeanne Streiff - Inky Paws

Jenny Gropp - One Krafty Kat

Lisa Silver - Silver Stamping

Sandy Hulsart - Creative Moments with Sandy

Vicki Garrett - Summerthyme Studio

Thanks for stopping by!

Holly Birthday Wishes

Greetings! Believe it or not, I'm still in the throes of MAKING Christmas cards....on the 21st of December...can you say LATE?? One of these years I'm going to figure it out...

My friend Holly had a birthday last week and this is the card I sent to her. Unfortunately, it just arrived yesterday!  I've had this Making Memories Holly Leaf Foil paper for a while and was happy to finally cut into it!   As you can see, I took the holly theme and ran with it!  The stamps are all Papertrey Ink (2010 Holiday Tags and Mixed Messages), as is the holly impression plate I used for the background layer.  The twill is from Stampin' UP!

Back to my Christmas card making!  Thanks for stopping by!

RI Sketch Challenge Merry Christmas Wishes

Hi there, happy Wednesday!  It's time for another Repeat Impressions sketch challenge card!  I used this cute teddy bear image (2007-I, Christmas Teddy) again - love him!  This time I colored him with Copic markers and blotted him with a terrycloth towel and blending solution.  The backgrounds of both stamped panels are airbrushed and the fur on his hat is ivory Flower Soft.  The papers are from Making Memories, as are the three brads. 

This is a really versatile sketch - if you'd like to play along and make a card using it, please head over to The House That Stamps Built to get the sketch and find out how to participate!

Thanks for stopping by!

RI Sketch Challenge....Better Late than Never...

Holy moly...I just realized that I never setup my post for today's sketch challenge at Repeat Impressions...This holiday week has me all messed up on what day it is! So, without further ado, here is my card using this week's great sketch!  For my main image,  I used 1321-M, Bird and Blossoms and for my diamond shaped elements, I used 4309-C, Bird's Nest and 2617-D, Tiny Bird (flight).  All of these images can be found HERE.  The sketch can be found on today's post at The House That Stamps Built, as can all the wonderful cards my fellow design team members made (and posted on time....).

All the images were colored using Copic markers and the background of my main panel was airbrushed.  I completely messed up my airbrushing on the first panel I did, but I didn't want to lose my colored image, so I cut it out and adhered it on top of the second one.  That was a lot of cutting....


The patterned paper and ribbon are from Making Memories Noteworthy line.  For the inside, I used the sentiment from one of Wendy's Swing Stamps - 8301-U, Little Birdie. 

If you'd like to play along, make a card or other project using this week's sketch and post a link to it over on today's post.  You have until  5pm (eastern time) on September 21st to submit an entry. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Belli Challenge #97 - Paint

It's time for another Belli Challenge, and this time the challenge is to use paint on your project.  For my card, I cut three flowers out of Grungepaper using PTI's Beautiful Blooms II flower dies.  I painted each flower layer with a Ranger Butterscotch Paint Dabber and then added a layer using a Copper Paint Dabber.  After the paint was dry, I stamped the coordinating flower petals from the Beautiful Blooms II set on the bottom and top layers and embossed them with Renaissance embossing powder from Powder Keg.  I adhered my layered flower using a decorative brad.  The sketch is from Kim Teasdale's Dare to Get Dirty challenge at SCS (DTGD10blondie090277).

The patterned papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl collection and the scalloped edge ledger paper is from Making Memories' Noteworthy journaling pad.  My sentiment was also embossed using the Renaissance embossing powder.  The butterfly was cut out of vellum and stamped using an image from PTI's Butterfly Dreams set.  I adhered three copper colored rhinestones for its body.  The center panel is Coredinations card stock that was embossed using PTI's Tin Types Impression Plate and lightly sanded to reveal the lighter colored core.

Please head on over to the Creative Belli blog for the details on playing along with us, and while you're there, make sure you check out what the rest of the Belli Girls have made using paint!

One last thing - check out The House That Stamps Built - yours truly is in the spotlight today!

Thanks for stopping by!

RI Sketch Challenge - Vase of Tulips

It's time for another Repeat Impressions 'What If! Wednesday' Sketch Challenge! For my challenge card, I used Repeat Impressions Vase of Tulips (1317-L) stamp for my focal image and patterned papers from Making Memories Flower Patch line.

I colored the tulips with Copic markers to match the background paper and left a couple of the flowers extended outside the top of the circle die.  The vase is paper pieced with coordinating patterned paper.  For the corner treatment, I used a crystal dragonfly from Prima and two yellow rhinestones.  I cut a small butterfly from another of the Flower Patch papers, covered it with Glossy Accents and adhered it, with a couple of pearls for its body, to one of the tulips.
The sentiment is also from Repeat Impressions (Just a A Note 2512-E) and was cut out using an oval Nestabilities die, then mounted on a Fancy Tags die cut from another piece of the Flower Patch paper.


Here's this week's sketch:

Be sure to stop by The House that Stamps Built to check out what the rest of the design team has done with the sketch! We'd love for you to play along with us and submit a card using the sketch - you could win a $25 gift certificate from Repeat Impressions!

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours - Merry Christmas!

Belli Challenge #79 - Chipboard

It's time for another Belli Challenge! This week's challenge is to use chipboard on your project. We also have a new sponsor this week - Stretch 'N Bubbles, who is offering this week's winner a choice of FOUR digital stamps! Alison, the owner, provided the Belli girls with some digital images for us to use for this week's samples.

I chose Earl the Penguin, printed him using my laser printer and colored him using Copic and Spica markers. The patterned papers are from Making Memories Fa La La collection and my mat layers are Stardream Stationery from Marco's Paper. For my chipboard element, I used a Grungeboard snowflake that I covered with Vintage Cream ink and Stampendous Blue Violet Ultra Fine glitter.

This close up shows the glitter on the snowflake and the glitter from the Spica markers on the penguin. I added a few green rhinestones from Memory Box and gold pearls from Michaels. The sentiment was stamped directly on the patterned paper using Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel ink.

This last shot is of the inside, which mimics the layout from the front. I stamped the swirl and ornament from PTI's Christmas Friends set using Versamagic Wheat.

If you would like to play along with us, just add a link to your chipboard project using Mr. Linky on today's Belli Challenge post. If you upload your photo to Splitcoast Stampers, Papercraft Planet or another forum, be sure to use the keyword CBC79.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Thanks for stopping by!

Creative Belli Challenge - Wood

Happy Wednesday! It's time for another Creative Belli Challenge! This week's challenge is to incorporate wood in your project. You can use a wood grain background stamp, wooden embellishments, sticks, a stamp of a wooden image or wood grain paper - whatever you have! If you would like to play along, please post your creation using Mr. Linky on today's post over at the Creative Belli Challenge!

For my card, I started out with the wooden butterfly from Kaisercraft and then figured I'd add the wooden tag from Judy's Stone House Designs Creative Laser Wood Accents for good measure! Next I settled on last week's SC237 sketch over at Splitcoast Stampers, and finally, I selected the Making Memories Flower Patch paper collection for my patterned papers, Prism Teal card stock for the card base and mat layers and KI Memories Bloom Tulips Surreal Frost Lace for the strip across the middle

I inked the edges of the butterfly and the tag with Versacolor Old Rose ink and added some Patina and Fruit Punch Stickles to the butterfly's antennae and wings for a little extra interest. The sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms' Script Essentials Expressions set.

I think that about covers it. Hope you are having a good week! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Easter!

This is a quick Easter card I made using stamps from Gina K. Designs. The image was colored using Copic markers and the flower pot was paper pieced with some paper from the Die Cuts with a View Nana's Nursery Baby Boy paper pack. The background paper is from Making Memories' Flower Patch collection. The mat for the main image is Stardreams Stationery and the sentiment was cut out using a Spellbinders double ended tag. I ran some beautiful silk ribbon through it to match it up with the mat from the main image. I dabbed some Stickles on the flower centers and some Shimmerz on the eggs and that's about it!

Sorry for the poor quality of the photo, but I finished up the card while I was out of town for work last week and had to make do photographing it in my hotel room! Hope you have a Happy Easter! Thanks for looking!